Hank Heals: A Novel of Miracles

by David Guy

Overview

A lighthearted comedy about the way a spiritual teacher tries to empower his followers, but they invest him with all the power.

“…brilliant, wise, moving, and funny. Like, really funny. … Spiritual writing like this is rare. “ Shozen Jack Haubner, author of Zen Confidential 

Henry “Hank” Wilder, a divorced loner, is unsuccessfully trying to establish a new Zen center when he accidentally cures an ex-girlfriend’s recurring cancer with his touch and discovers—at least this is what people keep telling him—that he has healing powers.

Suddenly the empty zendo is overcrowded with Zen students who also want to be touched and healed by Hank. At first he resists, but when he cures a local Mexican boy of a bad limp, his reputation takes off. A TV story on Hank’s healings goes viral. The Latino community shows up, bearing food and icons of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Hank befriends a Catholic priest and falls in love again. When his life gets totally out of hand, he escapes to Mexico on a spiritual odyssey and finds out who he really is.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948626774
Publisher:	Monkfish Book Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/22/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Pittsburgh native David Guy is the author of five previous novels, including The Autobiography of My Body and Jake Fades. He has published articles in a variety of publications, and one non-fiction book, The Red Thread of Passion: Spirituality and the Paradox of Sex. He wrote two books with his meditation teacher Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath and Living in the Light of Death. He taught for years at his alma mater, Duke University, and now divides his time between his two favorite North Carolina cities, Durham and Asheville. www.davidguy.org.

Pittsburgh native David Guy is the author of five previous novels, including The Autobiography of My Body and Jake Fades. He has published articles in a variety of publications, and one non-fiction book, The Red Thread of Passion: Spirituality and the Paradox of Sex. He wrote two books with his meditation teacher Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath and Living in the Light of Death. He taught for years at his alma mater, Duke University, and now divides his time between his two favorite North Carolina cities, Durham and Asheville. www.davidguy.org.

Editorial Reviews

Reading Hank Heals gave me a fresh burst of hope and excitement about the true nature of our beings. It's a rare piece of writing that does that.” —Peggy Payne, author of Sister India

“…brilliant, wise, moving, and funny. Like, really funny. … Spiritual writing like this is rare. “ —Shozen Jack Haubner, author of Zen Confidential 

“…a terrific novel written by a deft and effortless storyteller who knows how to keep a yarn moving and immerse you in its characters." —Norman Fischer, When You Greet Me I Bow

“… Zen-like in its spare prose and … sparkles with wisdom and wry wit.” —Barbara McHugh, author of Bride of the Buddha

BLURBS from previous books

About Jake Fades:  

“A wonderfully entertaining and admirably down-to-earth story about Zen, beer, sex, and real people in real life—not the make-believe Zen of your dreams.”  —David Chadwick, author of Crooked Cucumber and Thank You and Okay!

About The Red Thread of Passion: 

“An extraordinary text about the journey toward transcendence through sexuality.  David Guy provokes us to ask the most interesting questions about sex and our spiritual quest.”  —Erica Jong

“Propelled by gusts of honest nerve, David Guy sails into the forbidden estuary where the great wild river of sex merges with the vast pacific sea of spirituality—and the voyage proves as refreshing as it is revealing.”  —Tom Robbins

From the Publisher

2022-08-02
A meditation leader turns faith healer in Guy’s sequel to Jake Fades(2007).

In 2008, following the death of Jake, his Zen teacher, Hank Wilder has moved back to his hometown of Durham, North Carolina, and opened a zendo of his own. His classes, however, aren’t well attended. One day, he runs into Julie, an old girlfriend whose breast cancer has just returned after years of remission. Wanting to comfort her, Hank offers—for reasons he can’t explain—to place his hand on the ailing breast, which she allows him to do. Two weeks later, Julie shows up at the zendo with incredible news: “The spot wasn’t there, Hank,” she tells him. “They did an ultrasound and couldn’t find a thing. I think your touch opened things up and I was healed. I want to learn what you know.” Does Hank possess magical healing powers? He’s as shocked as anyone, but after he cures a boy’s limp, his gift seems undeniable. A viral TV spot brings more pilgrims to his zendo, and Hank soon finds himself at the center of a Catholicism-tinged cult of the Virgin Mary. Can he figure out what’s really going on before he completely loses control of the situation? Guy’s prose is incisive and often funny, as when he describes some of Hank’s would-be students: “They had meditated ‘for years,’ they said, but that turned out to mean every now and then over a number of years. They were deeply disappointed to find that all we did was sit there, figured there had to be something more.” Still, despite the premise, the book isn’t a satire, as one might expect. Hank, and the author, clearly take Zen—and spiritualism in general—quite seriously, and the book hews as closely to realism as its unlikely plot developments will allow. Hank can be a frustrating character at times, but his journey is a rich one. The plot eventually, and unexpectedly, veers away from Durham, and the ending is a satisfying one.

An offbeat and sincere novel of a man’s mysterious guruship.

Kirkus Reviews